SFEI collaborated with community partners to generate components for a community plan for green stormwater infrastructure (GSI). Working in an underserved Oakland neighborhood called “Dag,” SFEI led a USEPA-funded project called “Green Stormwater Infrastructure by and for Communities.” As part of an engagement with UC Berkeley, the Hood Planning Group, SFEP, and Urban Tilth, the team developed information resources, 3D models, and other visualizations to illustrate historic and current conditions that might be addressed through a broad deployment of tree wells, flow-through planters, and other GSI facilities.

The Dag community delivered their valuable insights, local knowledge, and vested interests to the discussions, which were at once cordial and productive. Some elder residents shared memories of the community from as long as 71 years ago, bringing to the scientific framework a deep narrative history that might have otherwise escaped even younger residents.

Among the assets produced through a series of community workshops are data layers reflecting community needs, challenges, and values, alongside maps that illustrated flood patterns, flood projections, landscape elevation, and sites of industrial pollution. From these workshops also emerged a 3D model that facilitated a review of scenarios for GSI investment portfolios.

The project partnerships leveraged the community engagement experience of the Hood Planning Group, Urban Tilth, and SFEP, the academic rigor of UC Berkeley, and the technoscientific know-how of SFEI to complement the existing community resources of the Dag.

The project should be completed by June 2028.